World Food Day/Harvest Home
Isaiah 45:1-7
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
Today, I'd like to talk to you about “gleaning.”
In Biblical times, “to glean” meant to go through the field after the harvesting was done, collecting up what was left behind. This was often done by widows, as seen in the story of Ruth and Naomi, or others who were, as we sometimes say today, “less fortunate.” Often women, these folks would go through the fields after the harvesters had done their work, and they would gather the wheat, or other crop, left behind, taking it home with them to be their food, as, for whatever reason, they could not buy food in the markets.
But gleaning was not just an act of those who came after the harvest: it was an act prepared for by the owners of the field. In fact, it was commanded, in several different places in Deuteronomy and Leviticus, that one should not harvest to the edges of the field, or go back and collect the gleanings (meaning the bits left behind), or even go back and get a sheaf of wheat if it was forgotten. Those parts, those leftovers, it is written, should be left for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien.
Theologically, much can be done with this image of gleaning: It is the opening phrase to images of caring and welcoming all, even those whom society shrugs away. Leaving leftovers in the field shows that all are valued, and all are to be fed. It is providing for those who society says to leave out. In our Gospel reading, before asking Jesus their question, the Pharisees praise Jesus, saying, “we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.” (pause) “You do not regard people with partiality.” None is higher than the other.
And indeed, here at this Table, we know that all are welcome. When we stand around the altar, receiving the Lord’s Supper, there is no head but Christ, there is no pecking order, no elbowing in to get the goods before they’re gone. All are welcome: the harvest feeds everyone.
(pause) We are all welcome at this table and certainly we can, should, and do wrap ourselves in the comfort of the assurance when our lives are battered by internal and external storms. But that doesn’t mean we shut out the needs of others. It doesn’t mean we start harvesting to the edges of the field, and leave nothing for those who already have nothing. When we allow others to go without, that comfort of welcome at the Table serves to remind us that we must respond. When we are fed here, can we take a moment to remind ourselves that there are those we are still unfed?
Here we can find practical application for that image of harvesting the fields, and making sure to provide for the Others among us. We cannot necessarily leave actual food in actual fields: for one thing, we are no longer, on the whole, a farming society. And for another, tractors, harvesters, and combines today are effective. To my knowledge, there is no “leave some behind for the widows and orphans” setting on the dial between “start harvesting stuff” and “stop harvesting stuff.” But are things we can do.
Today, in addition to being our celebration of Harvest Home, is World Food Day. All over, people are being educated about the issue of hunger: locally, nationally, and globally. Becoming educated is a part of the challenge of responding. And so I’ll tell you a bit: In 2009, in the Metropolitan areas of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, 17% reported food hardship. In Pennsylvania, that number was 16%, although, if you look just at households with children the number is 22%, or which is about 1 in 5. Across the whole of the United States, in 2010, that percentage was 15%, and in the entire world, 13%, or nearly 1 in 7 people are hungry. That’s 925 million people who are hungry. (pause) So there’s a bit of education there for you. There’s more to be done, of course, more to learn about the causes and possible solutions for hunger. There are books you can read, blogs you can follow, and if you need suggestions, let me know and I can point you in a starting direction.
Education: learning the scope and depth of the problem. What else? What can we do? Well, there is donating food to food banks, that’s a wonderful act and the bags we have here are welcome, precious gifts, as are financial and other donations and drives that happen, but there is still more. There are local and national advocacy groups which respond to the root causes of hunger and food insecurity. For example, Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania, LAMPa, is an ELCA public policy office in Harrisburg, working on many different fronts to advocate for “just, sound and compassionate state public policies.” LAMPa, as well as other advocacy groups, often have ways for people to get involved: be it through conversations, letter writing, or other opportunities.
So far we have education, donation, and advocacy. I’d like to point to one more way we can share what is in our fields with those who do not have. And this may be a different idea than you have heard before:
(pause) Know yourself. You are the field. You have been given the gifts, the passions, to do God’s work in the world. Part of this means that you should make sure you are caring for yourself: don’t harvest all you have to the point where you have nothing left to give. And part of this means finding your passion, your gifts. Maybe it’s not hunger. Maybe, your passion is literacy, or fair wages, or fair trade, or working with the disabled, or web design, or teaching, or... anything. Find your passion, plant the crop that will flourish in your field. Know yourself, care for yourself, and find ways to share your harvest with others: it doesn’t have to be hours and hours of time: a half hour, fifteen minutes: what is left in your field? And if you need help finding ways to do that or want to brainstorm ideas, call us: we can help you find ways to plug in, to share your harvest. And be attentive in the next few months as various ways to serve and be involved are lifted up and announced.
(small pause) After all, all we have comes from God. And as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel reading, we are to “give to God what is God’s.” What we have, what we are, is God’s. And yes, God loves us no matter what, and we are welcome at this Table no matter what. In turn we can say “Soli Deo Gloria,” which means, “To God alone be glory.” In response to God’s harvest reaching us all, we share our harvests with all. Soli Deo Gloria. Amen.
